That is a nice old Berger, Kelly. Very sweet. It looks like you put in some time massaging it to tip top form.
thanks. Yes, love massaging old bikes to the best they can be with a small budget. Its rewarding. Did the same to my WR500 yamaha. This berg cleaned up real nice and works better than I had hoped. I took the rear fender extension / plate holder off as it was falling off and it looks even better.
Its actually a Kenda Trackmaster which is very much a 752 copy. It was on there but i have ran them before. Cheap and good. Not great but good.
A cool Husaberg factory video from 1998. A low key factory environment, for sure. Real hand-built bikes. No comparison to today's automated Henry Ford-type KTM factory. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqNem4PbZH8
Good question. All of them? from Wikipedia... "A group of engineers led by Thomas Gustavsson decided to stay back in Sweden and continue to work on their project. ( I think their "project" was to finish their new 4-stroke engine design?)Husaberg Motor AB was registered in January 1988. The other Husqvarna employees who joined Husaberg were Ruben Helmin (Husqvarna chief engineer & Husaberg's first managing director), Urban Larsson (Husqvarna designer[), Björn Elwin (chief of Husqvarna test department). Roland Söderqwist, a small Swedish mechanical firm owner was also involved in the Foundation of the company. The first factory was set up in a woodshed at lake Vättern in the town of Husabergs Udde from which the name of the company is derived.The name Husaberg was only made official by Gustavsson when entering an enduro race at Skillingaryd, as he was forced to declare the make of his motorcycle.The Husaberg team tried to compensate for their lack of funds by their courage to rely on technical innovations and could never afford to hire established professional riders but rather ambitious rookies such as Joël Smets, Jimmie Eriksson, Walter Bartolini, Kent Karlsson, Anders Eriksson, Jaroslav Katriňák, Mike Tosswill and Peter Jansson.[4]Good results on the tracks could not compensate for slow sales, and Husaberg was eventually purchased by the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM in 1995.
Rode my berg again yesterday. Rained and was slick out. New bars (for better ergonomics) and new fancy snake oil plug (pulstar). Also had a good friend along with a nicely setup YZ250 which was nice so I could judge my real speed on this thing. Bars, yeap made a HUGE difference. I'm always amazed how the right ergonomics on a bike can make it so much better. Standing position is perfect now. Fancy new Pulstar plug? Yep, works. First heard about this on the TR650 section of this forum and many happy peeps. Wanted to change the plug anyways so thought I would try one. $17 so not to much. The idea with this plug is it has a capacitor built into it which gather all the coil energy before releasing it instead of just letting it find its way. Supposed to make a much better spark and faster plasma propagation. Been devices like this before, never thought much of them. Well it does work. Bike starts better, 1-2 kicks almost every time. Many times first kick. Much smoother idle and way better and smoother throttle response. Pulls so smooth from way down low that in many situations where I would be grabbing the clutch I don't have to now. Seems like most the gains are starting, idle and bottom end response but the whole rev range still rips hard. I put the Lectron on this bike and it helped a TON. That and this plug are magic. Even after the Lectron I was fighting a changing idle. I think high compression and a wild cam profile is part of the problem. This bike runs fantastic now. Even my buddy with the YZ kept saying "wow that thing sounds like it runs perfect" as it barks and rips away. I always kinda dismissed these "special plugs" but proof is in the pudding, she runs noticeably better for sure. As for speed on this beast I am faster than my buddy, and still am. I really have this machine working for me. Its an accommodating beast now and I love riding it. Love the hand built simplicity and stupid good power. Bike handles really well and I would ride it anywhere. It's a far better off road bike than any of my 570/610 based bikes I have owned. Its a much better off road bike than my TE511. That bike is a bit of a handful in the tight stuff (tall and heavy) where the Berg does well in anything. Tight woods are good on it and when it opens up... WOW. As I said before, bike is greatly exceeding my expectations.
The snake oil plug that actually works. Note, these can be as much as a half inch longer than standard plugs so if you want to try one make sure you have room. We have had drought like conditions and finally got a good rain. Raining hard again now. I like it.
Cool vid, wonder how many of those guys in the vid worked on my bike. I bet quite a few. Funny. About the 7 minute mark he says the bike is geared for anything and he is not kidding. Widest trans I have ever used in a dirtbike. Will climb a tree and go 110 mph.
I'm looking for a DS bike and was thinking older Husky, of course. Def like the idea of a real swede and the old Bergs are extra nice. Had a quick look and see quite a few at fair prices. If I was home I'd probably be driving down towards Atlanta to pick up a cherry FE400. Will have to study the models and make sure there were no real duds. My winter project, I think.
They are really cool bikes like the early 570/610. But make sure you like to work on bikes because these take some love and attention to own. I knew this going in and have zero issues with it. Parts on eBay are cheap.
not to cause a derailment but anybuddy else ever try one of those fancy plugs they r$$$$ 14.99 -24.99 [ea] OTD for Joe Blow @ Oreilly didnt check my price
that later ones have nicer frames, plastic, e-start and are better finished. But PDS and weight a bunch more.
I like the cobby look of the pre KTM bergs, but seems like parts could be an issue from a quick read and search. Late 90's and a couple of the '00 & '01 models still look Swedish, but a little more refined. Hafta have a good study on it, don't want to buy into anything to hard to find parts for. The later Austrian made ones are still exotic, but more than I want to spend or support probably.
yes. Should be done soon. Not needed in my app. The motor is awesome on the bike right now, can hardly wait to go unleash it again.
Just a quick not to anyone that cares about these old Bergs is Terry Cable in California has all the cables for this bike in stock!!! I just ordered the clutch and both decomp cables. How cool is that.
